Dragon Boat What???

So for months now, I have heard about a wonderful Dragon Boat Festival that happens each year in a town about an hour north of Yichang. It wasn't until last week that I finally got to experience what all the stories were about. You see, last term, I heard a strong beating drum coming from the Soccer Stadium all the time. In my curiosity, I would go over to see the origin of this noise. Everytime I went to look, I saw 2 rows of strong men paddling with oars in the air. No water. Just men sitting in a boat-like shape swinging those oars to the beat of the drum. I asked my students and they told me about the Dragon Boat Festival. As I mentioned previously, I got to see these men perform last weekend. It wasn't so much of a festival as a gathering of Yichang people who wanted to watch 22 men in a boat plus the navigator and the drummer paddle down the river in what turned out to be an international competition. Team group after team group raced each other. Preliminaries were fun for maybe 30 mins so the gang and I decided to explore the area on our own. Most of us ended up down near the foreign teams because we had students who were translators. It was really neat to see my students or friends making good use of the English.

We got some fun pictures but the ones below were the only ones I wanted to show off. You will see the starting line. Pretty cool. I would like to see my dad and brother paddle that fast. Beth and I were asked to be on Yichang TV, however, we aren't sure that we made it past the editing room. All we had to say was "Yichang Wonderful!" We sounded very articulate as you can imagine. Then there is the group minus Amy. She was relaxing having her own Children-peeing-beside-her Adventure. But my personal favorite is the last one. We are standing in line. Why? The Pizza Hut lady pointed at a sign that said "please line-up". Hey, ok. We were the only ones standing there and how did she know we wanted to go to Pizza Hut? (That was a terribly bad sentence grammatically. So is this one. Maybe...) Anyway, we did what she asked. Then she went inside and laughed. Hmm...what is it about foreignors that makes Chinese people laugh? Enjoy.

Coach, I'm gonna stay on the sidelines...

So, several weeks ago (actually, it feels like months) one of the teachers in the Foreign Language College invited Brad and me to play on the department's basketball team. I just kind of laughed at the whole situation and never confirmed or rejected the invitation. Then last week, I got a call from the same teacher telling me that the basketball games were coming up. I, trying to be polite, told him that I am very busy and wouldn't have time to play. I did this for 2 reasons. 1) I can't play basketball 2) I didn't want to say no directly. Apparently, my indirectness was not good enough. He told me to meet him at the basketball court that day for practice. I then told him I had class that day and on the other days we were playing. (I was trying desperately to get out of it.) I did end up skipping that day after getting off the phone with him, after telling him I wasn't going to make it that day, and after he still thought I was coming. No amount of communication apparently was going to convince him otherwise.

To continue my long rambling, I didn't want to play basketball with them until I found out they were going to give me b-ball shoes and team clothes. Ah, sportswear, there is nothing more attractive than that. Well, maybe skipping the b-ball game to sleep or eat chocolate. Hmm....chocolate. I skipped the first game and attended the following 2. That was fun. I wanted to play more than I did but the team wasn't (and still isn't) accustomed to having substitutes. There were 5 Chinese who were on the team who have yet to play. I, at least, have Brad who just runs off the court and tells me to go in for him. (Maybe not quite like that, but I still get to go in.) So I have played 5 mins in one game and 10 in another. I play until they call a time-out to encourage Brad to come back in. I have heard he is the MVP. I don't know why I am not. I stand on the sidelines talking with all the fans. I mean, they didn't come to watch the b-ball game, did they?

So the championship was supposed to be today but it rained. Imagine my disappointment. But hey, I did something fun. I have new clothes. And most importantly, I have pics. There is one of Brad doing his super all-star thing and the rest are of me doing my thing...talking on the cell-phone, posing for the camera, and being confused. Yes, I went out there and had no clue which way my team was going. Oh, and by a weird twist of fate, my jersey is #12 - my old soccer number. Brad's is #17 his old number. I think the Chinese people did research. Maybe I should be a little bit more concerned.

The Cookout...

A couple of weeks ago we got the chance to grill-out. Beth returned from her secret excursion to Wuhan with a beautiful grill that now resides on the balcony of mine and Brad's apartment. Brad put this thing together and it was beautiful. On our previous trip to Wuhan, we purchased charcoal. We thought we had everything in order but someone realized we didn't have lighter fluid. Ok. We will pick some up. Nope. None here. (Though, we might be able to use Zippo lighter fluid. Who knows?) The bag of charcoal was opened only to reveal what is strangely reminiscent of pieces of coal straight from the earth. Yeah, nothing close to the charcoal briquettes we are used to in America. I am sure they use the same stuff in steam engine locomotives.

After doing some research on the internet about starting grills without lighter fluid, we decided we should come up with a better solution than a chimney starter. (It was too complicated.) Many ideas were passed around...paper? Nope. (Doesn't burn long enough.) Gasoline? Nope. (Too dangerous.) Who-dey? Nope. (We would rather have him in a soup.) What about Bai Jiu? Come on, it's alcohol...albeit terrible alcohol. What better use of this stuff? (Strong start but didn't finish strong.) So, how should we light these coals? Peach grabs a coal and brings it into our kitchen and proceeds to light it over our stove top burner. Not a bad idea actually. The coal is lit after several minutes of loudly vocalized fear from the foreignors. Hooray! Now let's go light the other coals. Didn't work. So we ended up boiling the hot dogs for dinner. (I prefer them that way anyhow.) Not a bad dinner and it was accompanied by a fabulous lightning show. Dinner was saved but we didn't grill because the coals wouldn't light. 4 hours after our attempt, the one coal that had actually started eventually started the other coals and burned them into ash. Well, half a bad of coal gone. We know now to start the grills 6 hours before cook time. Oh China...live and learn.

First Swim 2007...

Well, winter came, settled in, and ravaged Yichang for months. Our winter vacation to Southeast Asia was a nice break from the chilly Yichang weather. (Beth went to Harbin. I guess she wanted to play with the Russians and the ice sculptures.) Spring came and went in maybe 2 days. Now summer is here. Everyday, the heat increases greatly. Right now, I am camped out in my room loving my A/C.

A couple of weeks ago, we decided to go to Xia Lao Xi. It is a neat little place to swim. The swimming area is man-made. They blocked the river with concrete walls and now the water blows through nice and gently. It is clean, cool, and refreshing. It isn't very deep either so it is a great place to relax and wade around. We taught 2 of our friends to swim. I tried but failed. Beth did a better job at it. Before the end of the day, both Peach and Seheno were swimming around like pro's. Well, maybe not pro's, but they weren't drowning. (Good thing too! I don't know CPR and who knows how long it would be for emergency services to come to the rescue.) It was nice and serence for a while...then a 20 Indians showed up. No problem that they showed up; however, they just like to strip down to their underwear and take a swim. No shame. No shame. I suppose we will go swimming there often over the next month and a half. Oh, summer heat - glad you got rid of the winter cold but couldn't you back down just a little?

April Birthdays...

So as you know, I have struggled keeping my blog up to date. Now that I can blog due to the Foreign Affairs Office finally coming through for us, I am forced to think about where to begin. Do I catch you up on everything or pick it up without caring what happened over the last few months? I think it would be a pity not to catch you up because so many neat things have happened and there are friends who deserve to be talked about in this vast and infinite cyberspace.

Here are some pictures of the April Birthdays. Beth and I celebrated our birthdays last month. On my birthday, my friends laid candles out in the shape of 23 down below my apartment. That was cool to see. Beth comes up with the coolest ideas. I have never seen anyone else go to such great lengths to make people feel special. Well, I have seen my Mom go to great lengths...so Beth is the second most creative and giving person I have ever met. My mom sent a Red Velvet Cake (my favorite) to China for someone to cook. Amy cooked it and wrote Chinese on it. Travis told me before I saw the surprise but it was no big deal. It was still cool. AND they let me have the whole cake to myself...thus continuing a tradition that my Mom started my freshman year of college. (And sometimes I wonder why I can't get into shape...)

We celebrated Beth's bday on the 27th. We did Mexican food, ghetto dance party, and special hang out time. That was a good night. Beth dressed up in her new skirt - very classy looking. Mexican was great! (She loves Mexican food. She also cooks a mean enchilada...I am sure it is better than Daniel's. Haha.) (Daniel if you read this, nothing personal. Beth is too great!) Ghetto Dance party...well, I don't dance often and I don't dance well. So basically, if we aren't doing the Macarena or the Cha Cha Slide, then I can't really do anything. Amy did a great job decorating Beth's cake. 76 days! Well, now there is less than 55 or so days. And then of course, there will be milk!

Could it be...

So it looks as if my blog is working again. It looks as if the internet is fixed now. For a while there, I could only read emails. Now I can respond, delete, view pictures and everything. Well, now that the blog is working again...the real question is will I actually blog about my life here in China? Yes Mom and Dad, I will begin again. Until the next post, snake on this picture...